My First Vlog!

Just wanted to do a quick little post to say hello and that I arrived home safely from my holiday. Luke & I had a productive day today, we did like six loads of washing, cleaned out our food cupboards and fridge, went food shopping, Luke made an awesome Indian curry from scratch, we bought season 2 of How I Met Your Mother, went out for breakfast, did some banking and unpacked our suitcases. And on top of that Luke stepped up and helped me with my first vlog! I've been wanting to do one, but I've been way too nervous to do it on my own! I'll be posting about my Fiji holiday later in the week when I upload my photos and get organised. Hope you're all having an awesome little start to the week!

My Collection / Tea

A month or so ago I posted about my blogs direction and how I wanted to post about other things aside from my daily adventures and illustrations. When I had a think about the things/topics I could share/explore, I thought doing an occasional 'my collection' feature would be cool just to shake things up some. My first thought was to show off my tea collection. These are just my tea bags(aside from the T2), I have a container with all sorts of loose leaf teas. 

The teas in my cupboard are: Peppermint + English toffee, French Earl Grey, Madagascan Vanilla, Red Leaf, Sleepytime, Green Tea + Cranberry, Earl Grey, Green Tea + Chai, Australian Afternoon Tea, Irish Breakfast, Lady Grey, Russian Caravan, Green Tea + Peppermint, Jasmine + Pear Green Tea, Traditional Afternoon Tea, Chamomile, English Breakfast, Morocco Mint + Spices, Moroccan Mint Green Tea, Pomegranate + Blueberry + Cranberry Tea

Lime Cheesecake Recipe Illustration

My design for the Appliances Online 

Newworld Colours Collection Rainbow Cook Book

I am extremely delighted to be involved with the Appliances Online British Ovens Rainbow Cookbook. The cookbook is a collaboration between seven food bloggers and seven creative bloggers who illustrated a recipe inspired by the rainbow. I was paired with food blogger Helen from The Crazy Kitchen, and our colour was green. Helen used her delicious double chocolate & lime cheesecake recipe, and I illustrated the recipe focusing on the limes. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and think its one of my favourite illustrations I've done so far!

Guest Post / Pursuit Of Felicity

Hello there tasteslikelove readers, My name is Felicity and I run the blog Pursuit of Felicity. I live on the Gold Coast of Australia with my partner of 3+ years and best friend of 8+ years, Ben. I'm currently studying to be a Primary School Teacher and have just over a year left to go. I have a huge fixation with sausage dogs, particularly with my own miniature dachshund, Phoebe. If I had to choose between having a real baby or a furbaby, furbabies would win everytime.. just kidding!

What inspired you to start your blog, and how did you settle on Pursuit Of Felicity for your blog name?

I originally started blogging as a way to escape the boredom of Uni and being unemployed. At first I simply posted photos and little snippets about what I was getting up to at the time, but after a few short months of reading other blogs I quickly became aware of just how diverse and widespread the blog world really is. From that point on I started putting the utmost time and effort into the presentation of my blog, and before I knew it I was completely transfixed with both blogging and blog design. I guess you could say I found my niche. :)

As for naming my blog Pursuit of Felicity, I came up with that name many years ago when I needed a handle for another social networking platform. You see, my parents chose to name me Felicity because according to the dictionary, Felicity means happiness. So having just finished watching the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness' I figured what better handle than Pursuit of Felicity. Besides, when I really think about, that's exactly why I started blogging in the first place.. to pursue happiness. :)

How do you spend most of your time?

As I no longer live with, or even close to the majority of my family and friends, I spend a lot of my free time online, blogging and trying to source out clients for my new blog design business. I also enjoy baking, D.I.Y crafts and spending quality time with Ben.. that is of course when Ben and I aren't bogged down with a tonne of Uni work. :(

You've recently started your custom blog design service, how did you get into blog design?

I started my custom blog design service in January of this year, but I have been designing blogs, websites and other social networking layouts ever since I first got the internet back when I was 13 years old. I received my first copy of Adobe Photoshop when I was 15 (thanks to Ben actually!) and that ultimately took my passion for design to a whole new level. Now whilst I am by no means a qualified professional designer, I am a hardworking, enthusiastic and passionate one! There's not a lot that I enjoy more than creating that perfect design a blogger has always been longing for. :)

What has been the most exciting/notable thing to happen to you so far in 2012?

Definitely opening up my custom blog design service. I had my first paying client just the other day, and after not working for over a year it was the most incredible feeling for me! :D I was also pretty excited when Lauren completed a custom illustration for Ben and myself in early February. ;)

What is one your favourite photographs?

My favourite photograph that I have ever taken is probably this one of Phoebe with her new best friend Joey. Joey is the maltese X papillon puppy that my brother gave my mum for Christmas last year, and I took this photograph on the first day that Phoebe met Joey. They were, and still are, so cute together. Looking at this photograph it's almost as though they've known each other for years!

Felicity is super awesome, and I'm glad we've become blogging buddies! She helped me out with my new blog layout last week. If you're thinking about refreshing your blog layout and design, you should definitely consider Felicity for the job! I featured on Felicity's blog last week, check it out.

Start Your Week Off With..

• 8 Tips for quality thrifting by Bekuh posted on Musings
• Curious topics by Curious Damsel 
• 100 Calorie snacks by Infinite Life Fitness
• Leather bow DIY by Calico Skies
• DIY ideas by Lazy Explorers
• Lucky by Sometimes Sweet

I hope you're all having a lovely start to your week, this weeks posts have been scheduled because I'm currently on holidays in Fiji doing exciting things! I've linked a couple of my new favourite blogs, because sharing is caring! 

Be Back Soon!

My sister Ashleigh & I on a coffee date recently

In the morning, 5am to be exact, my awesome family holiday begins! My sister & her husband Allan, my Mum & Dad, and Luke & I will all be going on a family holiday to Fiji for a week and half! I still have some more packing to do, but I can't do the rest until late tonight when Luke finishes work. I've wiped/disinfected/scrubbed everything surface in my house, scheduled posts for next week, painted my holiday nails, organised my button swap spots for next month & tidied my house so its lovely to come home to. I've packed some light holiday reading, so I'm pretty excited to get stuck into that on the short plane ride, because then it will feel like my holidays have actually started! I hope you all have a lovely week, and I look forward to sharing my adventures when I get back towards the end of the month!

Zebra, Cat & New Blog Design

I found my awesome zebra & cat animal masks 

Today Luke & I finally got to spend a whole day together without one of us having to work! We started to get things organised for our holiday, which begins this Sunday(!!!!). We went to one of our favourite cafes, Two Birds Gallery, which is conveniently a super short walk from our house. I had a lentil burger, and Luke had a breakfast wrap. Afterwards we did some boring grown up stuff like bill paying, washing clothes, and getting dinner stuff. We went to my parents house so Luke could get a hair cut, and I could play with their cat because I'm infurrtile. When we got home we made a tasting plate for dinner of fruit cheese, stuffed olives, cooked mushrooms, dip & bruschetta & watched How I Met Your Mother. It was so nice to just spend time together, even if we were being business women on the run doing jobs and getting organised. I didn't take any pictures today really, because Luke or I paying money and hanging out clothes isn't anything too exciting. Although, hanging out clothes is one of my favourite things to do. I won't lie. 

Aside from getting to spend an entire day with Luke, something else super exciting happened to me today. My blog had some work done! Theres been a couple of things that have always bugged me about my layout and no matter how many html coding tutorials I read, I still couldn't figure it out. I wait until things really bug me before I do anything, and a couple of weeks ago I finally emailed the lovely Felicity from Pursuit Of Felicity about it. She replied almost immediately asking me what I'd like to do. I didn't get back to her until after I'd finished my working week and had some spare time to design some graphics for my new blog look. I sent her an email last night, and by lunch time today I had an awesome new blog layout! Felicity made my blog look exactly how I wanted it to, and she was super helpful and explained the changes she made in detail. When I emailed her with all my graphics, I thought that I would have a new blog layout for when I got back from holidays, I totally did not expect to have it all finished today! She's just opened up her new blog design service, and her rates and packages are pretty awesome and super affordable. I would definitely recommend her to design your new layout, or help you out with a few things you can't quite do yourself. Thank you so so much Felicity!

Start Your Week Off With..

• Ten ways to battle creative block by Pie N' The Sky
• Play with your food by Good Good
• Fishtail braid tutorial by A Girl Named Leney
• Time by Wake Up, Lovely

This weeks post is a day late, but it will be a good way to enjoy your Tuesday!

We Went Out For Cocktails Instead

1. Mexican Bean Pies I made for Luke 2. This weeks purchases 3. Milkshakes!

4. Stripy Nails 5. Vodka Quatro Cocktails 5. Out for Tapas & Cocktails

Next Sunday I'll be going away to Fiji for a family holiday, so throughout the week I've been getting a couple of things ready. Along side a ticket to Fiji for Christmas, Luke & my brother-in-law Allan, also got a huge money tin. Luke & I almost filled ours with spare coins over the past three months and we opened it this past Sunday so we could bank it in exchange for Fiji money. Afterwards I started to get really excited because next Sunday is starting to get really, really close! I also slightly started to freak out because I had planned to get a couple of new holiday pieces to take with me. So on Wednesday I made a quick trip to the shops to get some holiday pants and a new dress. Sometimes when I go shopping, half way through something just clicks and I suddenly get sick of it and need to go home. I didn't have a dress to come with me, so I stopped by Cotton On to pick up a dress that I already had in different material. When you find a dress you like, I find its best to get it in a few different types of material. I finished my afternoon off by exercising my awesome baking skills and made some mini Mexican bean pies for dinner.

Luke's day off this week was Thursday, and I had to work so we couldn't go to the plant nursery, or bake blueberry bread together like we planned. So we went out for cocktails and tapas instead. I think I have bad luck with dining out because something always usually happens, whether its being served a meal that is missing the key ingredient (i.e., pasta without pasta sauce. Seriously) or finding a rock in my lentil burger. However, Thursday evening almost was a perfect evening! I had the most amazing vodka quatro cocktail with lime, cranberry & passionfruit. The restaurant was right on the water, so it's tapas had a bit of a seafood theme to it which was great for Luke, but not so much for me. They did have three fantastic vegetarian friendly options - polenta fries & aioli, goats cheese & eggplant garlic bread, and broccoli & mushrooms in chilli sauce. 

It's been a pretty laid back and productive week so far. Luke & I broke our milkshake mixer out from its kitchen cupboard captivity and we've been making them all week! I also painted my nails with coral punch, metallic brown & smokey purple stripes. I've been heaps into painting my nails differently since I did painted my zig zag nails a couple of weeks ago. I've been looking for easy nail art tutorials and found so many interesting, creative ways to use your nail polish. Blogging still excites me everyday!

Lovely Blog Headers

I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit of a sucker for a neat blog header. Its usually the first thing I see on a blog, and I have in the past followed blogs purely because they have been well designed. When I see neat designs I like, I keep them in folders on my iMac for design inspiration for when I'm doing posters, invitations or illustrations. I have a blog header folder because I come across so so many lovely headers all the time. I'm still in the process of transferring all my files from my Macbook onto my iMac, and while I was doing so I saw the blog header folder and thought I'd put them to use and share a couple of headers I like. 

Start Your Week Off With..

• Stuff instagramers say I Rock So What
• Orange lemonade made by Pamplemousse
• A Full Heart by Violet Lulu
• Self growth + stress by My Billie
• Five things you should indulge in regularly by Wake Up, Lovely

I hope you've all had an excellent start to your week, my Monday was spent working my way to the bottom of my laundry basket, running errands and watching 'Submarine'. 

Surprise Package

My Friday was pretty excellent. I slept in, received an email with some good news, wore my favourite new top, had a coffee date with my friend Holly, and received a surprise care package in the mail from my aunty. I woke up feeling not too enthusiastic as it was raining & cold and the thought of going out in the rain after straightening my hair really puts me off. And as I was pottering around my flat, I had somebody knock at my door. I didn't want to answer the door because I wasn't expecting anyone and I had wet hair, but I'm so super glad I did! It was the package man with a package van bringing me some boxed goods. I knew instantly who it was from because of all their business stickers plastered over the box. I was getting ready to go meet up with Holly so I didn't get to gush over it as much as I could straight away. 

The care package was made up with the following: T2 teabags, Santa Vittoria Apricot juice, Bills Beans, Beerenberg mini jams, bird coasters, nifty little eraser cleaning sponges, socks, Soho camp & underwear, Eco Store bars of soap, Basque make up bag, stainless steel water filtration bottle, tooth brush holders, mascara & little things from L'occitane! And the second best thing about getting this in the mail, was that my sister also got one sent to her too!

A Little Dinner Date

This week started off with a couple of sleep ins, and an odd lazy day due to this fantastic rainy, cold weather. I don't mind the miserable weather so much in the winter because its almost expected, but for February here in Australia, it isn't. Waking up to mountain (slight exaggeration, maybe a hill) of dirty laundry on a wet day doesn't really compel me to make much out of my day. But waking up and actually getting to have breakfast with Luke does. Luke has wednesday mornings free before he has to go to work in the afternoon, and this Wednesday morning he made French toast with strawberries and bananas for breakfast! After he left I watched 'The Help' - ohmygoshsupersad- and had an earl grey sorta afternoon with a pot of French Earl Grey & one of my delicious Earl Grey Cupcakes that I had made Tuesday afternoon. I also started to paint my nails with a watermelon zig zag.

Luke had Thursday off this week, but I however had to work. So Luke got up early and came to my work to have coffee and breakfast before he went to Newcastle for a little man date with his friend. After work I had plans to come home and tidy up and do all these amazing things before we had our dinner date, and I fell asleep waiting for Luke to come home. We went out for dinner & drinks for the first time in ages, which was really lovely. The past couple of weeks have been a little busy and on his days off I've been working & off doing things so we really haven't had much time to go on little dinner dates. So over the two days this week, I almost got to have full day with Luke. When we got home we had some drinks and watched Blades Of Glory. That movie almost gets better every time!